Man on the run after setting wife, daughter ablaze over property

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It was gathered that Edward carried out the dastardly act following attempts to force the woman to sell off her three bedroom flat and hand over the proceeds to him.

Apart from the deceased woman and daughter, Edwards seven-year-old son, Samson, also suffered serious burns while his stepson, Joshua Babatunde, managed to escape the carnage by the whiskers.

According to information gathered, the incident happened on Thursday, August 25, 2016, at the couple's residence on Augustine Street, Ire Akari Estate, in the Ifo Local Government Area, Ogun State, after a disagreement between them.

The 16-year-old Babatunde, while narrating what took place before the incident, said his stepfather had wanted his mother to sell their three-bedroom apartment, but she refused.

“It was the scream of my mother that woke me up. Dolapo and Samson were also set ablaze. I wanted to put out the fire when my stepfather poured petrol on me as well.

Before he returned with matches, I managed to escape and reported at the Ifo Police Station.

He was working in a factory but was sacked some months ago. He then told my mother to sell the house so that he could use the money to start a business. But my mother said she would never sell the house she struggled to build.

We moved into the house in January. The following month, he and Samson started living with us. It was a woman at our former residence in Iyana Ipaja (Lagos State) that bore Samson for him. He used to beat mom while we were in Iyana Ipaja.”

Dolapo was said to have died a few minutes after she got to the hospital, Aron Hospital, a private hospital in the state, while the mother died on Friday while the seven-year-old is receiving treatment at the hospital.

A brother of the late Gbemisola, Wale, while lamenting the incident, said she had been abused severally by her husband and that the constant beatings forced her to relocate from Iyana Ipaja to Ifo.

“Their relationship had been fraught with quarrels since when he was living with my sister in our house at Iyana Ipaja. There was a time he threatened to kill her with a machete. He stole her money and fled.

When he knew my sister had built a house, he went there to reconcile with her. She insisted that they needed to go to the registry which they did in February.

I visited my sister two weeks ago. She said her husband had been threatening her again and that she had told him to leave by the end of August. It was on Thursday afternoon that I got a call that he set her and the children ablaze.”

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The State Police Command’s acting spokesperson, ASP Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the command has launched a manhunt for the runaway killer.

“We learned the man and his wife had a quarrel over the ownership of the house they lived in. While the family was asleep, the man poured petrol on the living room and set it ablaze.

As a result, the woman and the two children suffered first-degree burns. The Commissioner of Police has ordered that the suspect is fished out. He can only run, he cannot hide.”